Entries in vegan
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My favorite thing about vegan baked goods is that even as a non-vegan, I CAN STILL EAT THEM.

And one that I enjoy eating is the vegan chocolate chocolate cookies at Macrina Bakery in Seattle. And--YES!--they are the "recipe of the month" which is now available to the public. Here's what Macrina has to say about them:

"This cookie was developed for a favorite teacher of one of our daughters here at Macrina. She would often request Olivia's Chocolate Chip cookies for her class but discovered her teacher couldn't eat them. I went to work on a vegan version so the cookies could be enjoyed by all! We test marketed it in our cafes with customers and they loved them, so we now offer them baked fresh daily!"

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, egg replacement and salt in a medium bowl. Add the chocolate chip and mix well to combine. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream the butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla. Start on low speed and increase to medium for a total of 5 to 8 minutes. The mixture will be fluffy and very pale. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the water. Stop halfway and scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Be careful not to over mix: the cookies may become tough. If the dry ingredients aren't fully incorporated, mix them in with the spatula. Transfer the dough to a medium bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour. At this point the dough can be formed into cookies or stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This dough also freezes well for up to three weeks.

3. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 35o° F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

4. Let the cookie dough warm at room temperature for 20 minutes to make portioning easier. Scoop the dough from the bowl with a large spoon or #30 ice cream scoop and form into 1-3/4 inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, flattening them to 1/2 inch thickness while maintaining the circle shape. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown. (These cookies don't spread much, so they'll look a little different than standard chocolate chip cookies.) Cool them on a wire rack for 20 minutes before serving. Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

Photo: Munchin with MunchkinCakeSpy Note: This is a guest post from Cake Gumshoe Christine, who blogs at Munchin With Munchkin. Let the NOM begin:

I am not a vegan. I’m actually not even a vegetarian but I love a challenge.

So many desserts are off limits for those trying to avoid animal products or even attempting to live a healthy lifestyle. It truly doesn’t have to be this way as making a vegan dessert is just as simple as making one full of fat, sugar and dairy. All you need is a blender and a few simple ingredients such as fruit, coconut milk, and some common spices.

Peach cobbler is one of my favourite desserts and with fresh peaches popping up at my local farmers market I couldn’t resist the challenge of another classic dessert-inspired milkshake. When choosing peaches for this purpose, ensure they are quite ripe as they no longer ripen after they are picked. If you can find a few ripe peaches there is no need to add additional sweetener such as maple syrup as these juicy fruits are full of natural sugars.

You can also opt to make this recipe raw by omitting the peach preserves and substituting almond butter and a few pecans for the graham cracker crumbs and oats. Now go make your sweet tooth happy and enjoy some peach cobbler for breakfast! Happy Friday!

Peach Cobbler Milkshake

Ingredients

4 ripe peaches, sliced

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. Peach preserves, preferably natural, no sugar added

1 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 cup light coconut milk

1 ripe frozen banana

1 Tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ Tsp. cinnamon

dash nutmeg

2 Tbsp. graham cracker crumbs (check label to ensure it is vegan)

1 Tbsp. old fashioned oats

2-3 pecans (optional)

maple syrup, sweeten to taste (optional)

ice cubes

Procedure

Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth

Top with soy based whip cream, sprinkle with additional graham crackers and cinnamon. Garnish with a peach slice.

You know what was awesome? The Vegan Bake Sale that we had at CakeSpy Shop last weekend. In fact, it was such a success that monthly bake sales are in the works! Future events with Bake It In A Cake and The Piecycle coming up in March and April, respectively!

But back to this first lovely one with the talented Shavon Hutchinson, who was raising money with her delicious baked goods to go to Bikram Yoga teacher school. I know, I know. Sounds healthy. But trust me, the baked goods, while vegan, were totally decadent and delicious. Here's just a preview of a few items on offer:

...and they were baked by this adorable girl:

And happily, Shavon has offered up a favorite recipe for your viewing (and baking) pleasure, for some pocket pies!

mix all dry ingredients and put in freezer along with your shortening and butter. it is mui importante to keep all ingredients as cold as possible when making pie dough.

put dry ingredients in food processor and slowly add your butter/short mix til resembles fine bread crumbs. then slowly add 1/4 c ice water. add more ice water 1 T at a time until dough comes together. turn out onto a lightly floured surface and need until all smooth texture. divide into 2 discs, cover in plastic and chill in fridge for at least an hour.

now you can mix your pie guts.

BASIC PIE GUT MIX:2 C prepared fruit (peeled cored sliced) or berries, you can even use frozen fruit here, its ok dont be ashamed...2 T sugar (i like a mixture or brown and regular)2 T flour (a little less if using apples or other dryer fruit)pinch saltcinn, nutmeg, cloves (if your taste buds so fancy)

mix all together until well combined and let it sit out and get nice and juicey. if using berries i like to mash up a few of em to really get the juices out. and walla...pie guts...

ASSEMBLY:take your 2 discs of die dough and let em thaw a little so they are more manageable after chilling time. over-worked pie dough is not very fun. use whatever shape cookie cutter or glass top you want to cut out bottom layers and tops. now make an assembly line and fill em up. i use about 1 T filling per pocket. you want to make sure and have enough room to make a seal. once youre ready to top em off then brush the rims with soymilk or water or butter, i like the butter option the best. pich together and make pretty with a fork edge or whatever. place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, sometimes they leak yum!, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and bake at 375 for about 20min or until golden brown. enjoy!

I feel like we need to talk for a minute about one of my favorite "feels like health food" cookies: The Power Cookie. This beauty is the invention of Capers Markets (a Whole Foods partner in Canada), but luckily, here in Seattle we are close enough that they are readily available in Whole Foods stores.

You may be tempted, upon looking at it, to think that this oaty, nutty, seedy, granola-y looking vegan (yes, vegan!) lump is kind of healthy. But you'd be wrong. It's delightfully full-of-fat, sweet but not overly so, and feels very indulgent.

The cookies are filling and with all of that good stuff crammed in, I certainly wouldn’t be adverse to calling these a breakfast cookie! While the ingredient list is long, these are simple to put together and they bake up really well too. If you don’t have applesauce on hand, but you do have an apple, just make your own sauce. One large apple should do it.

and -- even MORE awesome -- la belle Sandwich lady has come up with a "Bakery Hack" and made up her own version of the Power Cookie recipe! Since I've had the good fortune of trying her delicious baking, I would say that you could take this one on with confidence.

Question: you're in Needham, MA and have a hankering for a delicious vegan and gluten-free cupcake. Where do you go?

The answer is clear: Treat Cupcake Bar. This sweet shop has an established following for their cupcakes, which can be ordered in a great variety of sweet flavors or built on command by choosing your own cake, frosting, and toppings--and now, they've added a sweet selection of vegan and gluten-free flavors to their regular offerings, including Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, Orange chocolate cake with orange chocolate frosting, Mint chocolate cake with mint chocolate frosting, and Vanilla coconut cake with vanilla frosting and coconut topping.

Curious to learn more about the process of veganizing and de-glutening the product to the point of perfection? Here's an interview with baker Adie Sprague:

CakeSpy: Are all the new flavors both gluten-free AND vegan?

Adie Sprague: Yes, all the flavors are both gluten-free and vegan. We do this because we have separate equipment used for these products. It becomes easier to keep these products safe from contaminants if each of the recipes is free of all those allergens.

CS: I'm sure that developing recipes which don't employ common cake ingredients is tricky! Can you tell us some of the biggest challenges when it came to developing vegan and/or gluten-free recipes?

AS: It has gotten much easier to make gluten-free and vegan items, as there are increasingly more products to work with. At times, it’s difficult to develop new flavors because we’re doing products that are free of gluten, dairy AND eggs (that's a lot of cake ingredients)! Usually people substitute just one element of a recipe, for example they may substitute another ingredient in place of flour to make a gluten-free dessert, similar to a flourless chocolate torte which is delicious, but primarily made of eggs. At Treat Cupcake Bar, we must substitute them all. There are, however, many gluten-free flours and starches (i.e. rice, bean, potato), a plethora of different milks (rice, coconut, soy), and multiple ways you can substitute for eggs. The more of these products that become available (and with increased quality), the easier our job gets. We just play with all possible substitutions until we find something we like!

CS: How do you avoid cross contamination for gluten-free products? I understand this is very difficult for kitchens!

AS: It certainly can be hard in a small kitchen, but do our absolute best in keeping our gluten-free and vegan products separate from our other products, including dedicating a special section of the kitchen to this kind of cupcake creation, decoration, and storage. We use a separate table, mixer, and utensils for gluten-free/vegan cupcakes only, and we label them by color so that employees know, when washing & sanitizing, to keep these separate and send them directly back to the allergen-free table. When the cupcakes are done, they are placed on a dedicated gluten-free/vegan sheet pan on parchment and kept separate from our other creations. We make training employees on this importance a priority so that they are able to handle all products coming out of the kitchen. We acknowledge that you can never be 100% sure, but we’re confident in the system we follow and have many happy, regular customers who come in especially for our gluten-free and vegan treats!

CS: How do these treats differ, taste-wise, from your existing (dairy, gluten-containing) recipe for cake?

AS: People do ask if they taste the same, and they don't. We didn't take our chocolate cake recipe and then turn it into a gluten-free/vegan product. We started from scratch and made a great GF/V cake. Our regular chocolate is denser and buttery, similar to a brownie, whereas our gluten-free/vegan chocolate is a little fluffier with a rich, dark flavor.

CS: What's your personal favorite of the new flavors?

AS: The Chocolate Orange! It’s rich and chocolaty with a hint of orange flavor, and a layer of dark chocolate between the cake and frosting to give it another texture when you bite into it. The mint is made similarly, but there's just something about the orange! :)

Want more? Duh. If you're in Needham, MA, you can visit them in person at 1450 Highland Ave., Needham; even if you're not in the area, you can still visit Treat Cupcake Bar online here.

You may not have butter, eggs, or milkbut I don't feel deprived'cos unlike some pastries of your ilkyou don't taste contrived

You're so sweet, tart, and nuttywhen push comes to shoveI have a confession, buddyI think I'm in love.

Reading that poem, I hope that two things have come across. First, that I should never pursue writing poetry professionally. But more importantly, what I hope that it's conveyed is that this bar is a very special treat which is worthy of love and affection. It's good--seriously good. Starting with a rich cookie base, it has a layer of rhubarb which adds a tart layer of flavor and soft, lightly gooey center, which is all crowned with a generous oat-and-crumb topping which is sweet, lightly salty, rich, and startlingly addictive. Not just "good for a vegan treat", this bar is so good that you'll never miss the butter. And as someone who generally firmly believes that the secret ingredient is butter, and lots of it, this is a bold statement.

In general, I love desserts that incorporate great quality and massive quantity. But in my more refined moments, even I can admit that sometimes, small bites can be exquisite.

Such is the case with truffles by The Smallest Bite, a Rhode Island-based chocolate company run by Season James (perhaps identical cousin to Autumn Martin, who does chocolate in Seattle?) who recently sent me a parcel of pint-sized sweets for me to sample.

The Smallest Bite specializes in organic, vegan truffles which are made with all natural, free trade ingredients. All of this may sound very granola, but the taste is anything but: these are deep, dark, and incredibly rich. They create said truffles in a collection of flavors which include the original (a bittersweet chocolate), a toasted coconut and pistachio variety, and the one we tried--the blackberry pretzel.

Now, I didn't sample the other flavors, but I am nonetheless pretty sure that blackberry pretzel must be the best. The blackberry provides a tart, subtle undertone, and the pretzel provides a delicious saltiness: both taste profiles are made even better by the extreme chocolatiness of the truffle.

The only catch with my parcel from The Smallest Bite seemed to be the packaging: my parcel arrived with the truffles overturned and the little candy cups overturned; in spite of this dissaray, however, the goods themselves were not damaged, and I was assured that this had not been a problem with shipments.

Fold in apples, oats, and pecan pieces. Pour into cupcake cups and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Make the frosting. In an electric mixing bowl fitted with a paddle cream together cream cheese and margarine until smooth and creamy. Slowly add the confectioners' sugar 2 cups at a time, mixing and scraping down the sides. Add vanilla, and mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Gently fold in chopped pecans.

Make the streusel topping. Preheat oven to 450ºF. In a medium size bowl add flour, sugar, and margarine. Mix together with a fork to create crumbs. Add pecans and toss. Spread out evenly onto cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil. Bake until golden brown. Once cooled toss and break up crumbs, use as topping for cream cheese frosting.

A frequent question posed chez CakeSpy is "how can I ship cupcakes?". Well, there is the option of shipping them in mason jars, but other than that I'd probably be better at advising you on how not to ship cupcakes.

Happily, NJ's Sweet Avenue Bake Shop is now offering some sweet shipping options for their award-winning vegan cupcakes. They do small quantities so it won't break the bank, and you have the option of a DIY cupcake kit wherein it comes with all of the necessary bits and bobs and you decorate your own; or, they also have a fun customized option, so that you can upload a picture for custom cakes and send them to someone you love (how 'bout sending a big picture of your face to mom?). Here's the 411 from Sweet Avenue Bake Shop:

DIY Cupcake Kit: $25 (shipping included)

The Decorate It Yourself Cupcake kit includes your choice of three cupcakes, three frostings, and your choice of 3 sprinkles. Do you want all chocolate? Red velvet and cream cheese? Peanut butter frosting with rainbow sprinkles? It's all fair game. We'll even include some frosting wands to get you started. These kits are great for kids, as a gift for a friend, or just as a way to try out our cupcakes if you can't make it to our New Jersey bake shop.

Don’t want your own image? Select from our assortment of pop culture edibles such as the popular Twilight Cupcakes featured on People.com! To inquire about image cupcakes, email info@sweetavenuebakeshop.com.